African Climate Week (ACW) 2023, convened from September 4th to 8th, made resounding steps with the theme: “African Solidarity for Global Climate Action.” Jointly organised by the United Nations (UN), the African Union (AU), and the Kenyan government, this event held deep importance for the shared effort in advocating for climate action in the region. At the same time, Nairobi played host to the inaugural African Climate Summit, a joint effort involving these groups. At the heart of it was a significant report, created in cooperation between AFRIK 21 and the West African Development Bank (BOAD). This report explored how Africa deals with finances, addresses problems, and strengthens its ability to withstand challenges in both economic and environmental aspects. Notably, a staggering investment of over 3,000 billion dollars by 2030 is imperative to effectively tackle the challenges of mitigation and adaptation.
ACW 2023 was an important event for working together in the region. It focused on five important areas: energy, cities and towns, transportation, land and water, and people’s well-being and jobs. The discussions in these areas will be really important for the first-ever global assessment happening at the 2023 UN Climate Change Conference in November.
This year’s ACW was hosted by the Government of Kenya, with help from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), and the World Bank Group. They worked alongside regional partners like the African Union (AU), the African Development Bank (AFDB), and the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). By lining up ACW with the Africa Climate Summit, they made sure both events had an even bigger effect and reached more people.
These Regional climate weeks are really important for involving and empowering stakeholders to exchange views, share ideas about how to deal with climate issues and talk about how we can make things better in different areas.
In these times when it’s really important to take action on climate, ACW 2023 shows how Africa is really dedicated to taking care of the environment. The ideas of working together and supporting each other are not just important in Africa, but all over the world. This reminds us that we all need to work together to face the biggest challenge our planet has ever seen.
